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No. 60,952. Patented Ian. I7, 1899.

. .1. L. BURTON.

MEDICINE GLASS.

A ueauo'n filed Aug. 23, 1898;-

[No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES L. BURTON, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGN OR OF ONE- I-IALF TO ALBIN A. JOHNSON, OF SAME PLACE.

MEDICINE-GLASS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 617,952, dated January 17, 1899.

Application filed August 23,1898. Serial No. 689,285. (No model.)

T0 00% whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES L. BURTON, a citizen of the United States, residing in New Britain, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Medicine-Glasses, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to amedicine-glass; and it has for its main object the provision of an improved glass of this type, embodying in its construction means for noting or indicating the times at which doses are to be given to a patient from the contents of the glass, which medicine may be any that may be indicated by the patients condition.

It should be understood here that the term medicine-glass includes within its meaning a medicine-containing vessel of any suitable size, shape, and material and that it is not limited in its significance to a medicine-holder made only of glass.

My improved time indicating medicineglass may be constructed in any suitable manner; but I prefer to apply to a top or cover therefor a settable time-indicator by means of which after one dose has been given the indicator may be set to show the time for taking the next dose.

In the preferred construction the medicineglass proper will have a removable cover, which may be formed by hinging to a screwcap detachable from the glass a swinging cover, which may be lifted or swung back whenever it is desired to remove or pour out medicine from the glass. The construction of the parts should be such, of course, that if a liquid is in the glass it may be poured out readily and not be held back at any point by any portion of the screw-cap or cover.

It will be obvious that when a medicineglass of this improved type is made use of in a sick-room the intervals at which each one of several medicines that may be prescribed for a critical stage of the illness of the patient may be clearly indicated on each individual glass and that it will be unnecessary for the attendant or nurse to tax the memory in an endeavor to give doses of different medicines at frequent intervals, all the attention the glass will need being the resetting of each indicator after a dose has been given from the corresponding glass.

Another important feature of my improved medicine-glass is the provision of suitable holding means, preferably a clip, for carrying a spoon, so that the latter need not be laid down after a dose has been given, but may be put back in the holder or clip and sustained by the latter in such a position as to prevent contact of the spoon-bowl with dust or other impurities.

In the drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a plan of a medicine-glass constructed in accordance with my improvements; and Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, partly in section, in order to illustrate the manner in which the screw-cap, the swinging cover, an d the spoonholding clip are connected and supported.

Similar characters designate like parts in both the figures of the drawings.

My present invention is embodied in any form of medicine-glass or medicine-containing vessel in which a time-indicator may be set to note the intervals at which doses should be administered from the contents of the glass; but in the preferred construction the settable time-indicator will be applied directly to the top of a cover for the glass, this being the most convenient position in which to locate the indicator so that it will not interfere with the proper use of the glass as a medicine-containing vessel from which doses may be taken. This will be obvious when it is considered that in using a glass of this kind it is nearly always grasped in such a manner that the fingers encircle the periphery thereof, and the glass is of course lifted with the top thereof nearest to the eyes of the attendant and in the best position for observation.

Vhile it is only necessary that a cover should be applied to the glass in such a manner as to be capable of swinging to permit the pouring or dipping out of the contents, yet in the preferred construction I deem it most advantageous to hinge this swinging cover on a screw-cap somewhat similar to those employed for closing the mouths of glass jars. Here the screw-cap proper is an internally-threaded annulus, preferably of glass, and is designated in a general way by C, the internal threads 2 of this cap engaging corresponding external threads 3 of the glass or vessel proper, (indicated by G.)

In order to facilitate the pouring out of the medicine, the internal diameter of the screwcap, at the point thereof most nearly adjacent to the inner side of the glass, is the same as the internal diameter of the glass at such point, and at the extreme upper or outer side i of the screw-cap the circular inner wall there of preferably flares out slightly in order to form a tapered seat for the corresponding eX- ternallytapered periphery of the swinging cover, the cooperating faces of these two parts being preferably ground in order to obtain a snug fit of the cover, it being understood that in the construction illustrated the cap, the

- cover, and the vessel proper are all usually made of glass.

The cover, as before stated, will usually be a circular one of somewhat large diameter in order that liquid in the vessel may be poured out freely, and this cover, which is indicated in a general way by a, may be hinged to the cap in any suitable manneras, for exam ple, by the form of hinge shown, where a pintle 4 passes through openings in bosses on the cap 0 and cover 0, which bosses form the knuckles of the hinge. This pintle may be a silver one in order to avoid corrosion by th medicine.

The time-indicator will usually comprise an indicating-dial and a pair of time-indicating hands of some suitable construction. The usual Roman numerals are shown herein to designate the hours, and these may be carried by the glass cap in any suitable manner, as by being printed on a disk 5, affixed to the top of the cover.

The usual hour and minute hands 6 and 7 may be frictionally mounted to turn on a small arbor, such as 8, which in this case extends through the disk 5 and is cemented in the cover It will be obvious now thatif the hourand minute hands are set properly to indicate the time at which a dose should be given it will be unnecessary for the attendant to intrust to memory the task of fixing the time intervals for the doses, especially when doses have to be given from many glasses at varying intervals.

In order to prevent contact of the spoon with dust and other impurities, as is usually the case when a spoon is laid down upon a table or other support, I prefer to provide, in connection with the time-indicator hereinbefore described, a spoon-holder, which will usually be in the form of a clip suitablysupported on the medicine-glass. In this case the clip is carried by the screw-cap O and is removable from the glass proper, G, with such screw-cap.

Any proper form of clip may be employed,

that shown herein being hinged to a divided annular band, preferably of silver, having at its open end a pair of ears or holding-arms, (indicated by 10'.) These arms are connected by a pin or screw, such as 12, on which the clip, which may be of the type shown at 13, is supported so that it may swing on said pin.

Obviously the annulus or band 10, which encircles the screw-cap and is held in place by or rests on an annular shoulder, as 15, and on the cap, may be engraved or otherwise ornamented to suit the taste of the user, the whole article being not only extremely useful in a sick-room, but also capable of a high degree of ornamentation.

Any suitable type of glass may of course be employed for supporting the several features hereinbefore particularly described; but it will be found most advantageous to make use of a glass of the type known as graduates, and that shown herein has at one side thereof a scale suitablyimpressed orimprinted thereon to indicate any desired unit or multiple of units of measurement.

Having described my invention, I claim- 1. A device of the class specified,consisting of a medicine-glass an independent annular cap fitted to the upper portion of the glass, and the internal diameter of said cap at the point thereof most nearly adjacent to the inner side of the glass being the same as that of the glass at such point, and the wall of the opening in the cap being flared outwardly to form a seat, a cover having a tapered periphery fitted in said opening or seat, and said cover being hinged to the cap; and a doseindicating device carried by one of said parts.

2. A device of the class specified, consisting of a medicine-glass; an independent annular cap fitted to the upper portion of the glass and having an annular shoulder, and the internal diameter of said cap at the point thereof most nearly adjacent to the inner side of the cap being the same as that of the glass at such point; a cover for the glass; a band surrounding the cap and resting against said shoulder and provided with a spoon-clip; and a doseindicating device carried by one of the parts.

3. A device of the class specified, consisting of a medicine-glass; an independent annular cap surrouuding,and in threaded engagement with, the glass, and the internal diameter of said cap at the point thereof most nearly adjacent to the inner side of the glass being the same as that of the glass at such point, said cap having a shoulder; a divided band surrounding the cap and resting against said shoulder and provided with a spoon-clip; and a cover hinged to said cap and provided with a dose-indicating device.

JAMES L. BURTON.

Witnesses:

ALBIN ALEX. JOHNSON, HENRY BIssELL. 

